


Stage Mom

by Lady Divine (fhartz91)



Series: Outside Edge [17]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bad Parenting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Ice Skating, M/M, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 01:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11264802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhartz91/pseuds/Lady%20Divine
Summary: After watching a mom tear down one of their skaters, Kurt calls off his date with Sebastian so the two of them can lend a helping hand.





	Stage Mom

**Author's Note:**

> So before anyone gives me any kind of grief with regard to my original characters, the things I write about in this verse are actual things I see going on at the rink where my daughter trains. I'm not stereotyping based on race or anything else. "Maya" is a real girl, and the mom I'm writing about is her real mother. And this is how she, and many other moms, act. And yes, they happen to be Chinese. The little boy who is my Kurt muse is the one with the mom who yells in Russian. Our rink has its share of awful stage parents. Maya and her mom just happen to be the two I see most often. But we also have a surplus of kids who are always willing to step up and help when one of their peers is down in the dumps, and that just warms my heart, so I had to write it. Please let me know what you think. I'm still plugging away on the main story, so worry not :)

“Again!”

The girl sitting in the center of the ice, catching her breath after her latest epic fall, wipes her red cheeks with snow-covered gloves.

“I said _again_ , Maya!”

“I’m sorry, Momma,” Maya says, climbing shakily to her blades, “but I can’t do that jump while you’re here!”

“Why not?” Maya’s mother - wrapped in several layers of turtleneck, sweater, jacket, and blanket - stands from her bench to address her daughter from behind the low wall of the penalty box.

“You make me nervous!”

The woman slams a gloved hand on the wood edge. “That’s no excuse!”

“I didn’t say it was!” Maya explains, skating over to her agitated mother. “I’m just saying that …”

“Say nothing! Do it again! Now!”

“Hey, babe.” Sebastian slides up behind Kurt, who’s watching Maya and her mother argue from the doorway of the next penalty box down. He’s dressed to the nines in red, white, and blue cloud print skinny jeans, and a lighter blue, short-sleeve button down with the top two buttons undone. He’s still wearing his skates but that’s not unusual, even three minutes before they’re supposed to be out the door, grabbing dinner.

Kurt without his skates on – _that_ would be unusual, which is why, dressed to impress himself, Sebastian tossed on his own skates to join him.

“You look absolutely incredible.”

“Thanks,” Kurt says glumly, grabbing his boyfriend’s arm and winding it around his waist.

Sebastian watches Maya’s mother shake her fist as her rant becomes louder, which makes Maya recoil. “She doesn’t sound too happy, does she?”

Kurt sighs. “She’s not.” He winces when the angry woman switches from English to Chinese, her voice becoming rougher as she talks faster, the words she slings reducing her daughter to tears.

“I wonder what she’s saying.”

“She’s calling Maya’s jumps weak and her spins sloppy.” Kurt’s grip on Sebastian’s arm tightens as he continues. “She’s saying that if Maya can’t perform the routine, then what good is coming here and practicing every day? Why is she spending all this money? She’s calling her skating a bad investment, and she says that Maya’s embarrassing her.”

“Wow,” Sebastian says, as much in awe of his boyfriend’s translation skills as the harshness of those remarks. “You speak Chinese?”

“No. But she says it so much, I used voice recognition on my phone and had Google translate it. Google translate sucks, but it gives you the gist.”

“Damn.”

“I know.”

“No, Mom!” Maya pleads, tears running in torrents down her cheeks. “Don’t go! Please!”

“And now she’s leaving.” Kurt exhales so long, Sebastian can imagine all the breath leaving his body.

“I---I don’t understand,” Sebastian says. “I mean, I’ve heard a few of these moms yell before, but I didn’t know it was _this_ bad.”

“Yeah, well, you obviously missed the mom who yells at her son in _Russian_.”

“How can she say that about Maya though? She’s one of the best skaters here!”

“I know.” Kurt wraps Sebastian’s arm around him tighter as he watches the woman storm off with her heartbroken daughter skating after her, trying to catch her before she reaches the double-doors. “I guess they think disappointment is motivating or something. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just plain cruel. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have a parent like that.”

Sebastian can’t either. For all of their faults, his parents don’t put him down like that, especially not in front of other people.

They just don’t particularly pay attention to him.

“H-how do we help her?”

“I don’t know.” Kurt watches Maya reach the doorway to the ice and slide to a halt, contemplating whether she should run after her mother in her blades or if she would get into even more trouble for dulling them by leaving the ice without her blockers. “But I have an idea. It might mean taking a raincheck on tonight though.” Kurt looks at his boyfriend with apologetic eyes. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” Kurt glances down his Sebastian’s body, at his violet Henley; his tight, black jeans; and his Bauers, untied since he threw them on just to talk to Kurt for a few moments.

“It’s all good,” Sebastian says, giving his boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. “As long as I can hang here with you while you do whatever it is you’re going to do.”

“I was hoping you’d say that, because I might need your help, _Coach_.”

Kurt bites his bottom lip coyly and takes off down the ice with Sebastian behind him. By the time they reach Maya, she’s taken her gloves off, wiping her swollen eyes with her fingertips, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

“Hey, Maya,” Kurt says, not sure how to start. “How’s it going?” He looks at Sebastian, grimacing at himself, but shakes it off quickly when he hears Maya sniffle.

“I can’t do the jump, Coach Hummel,” Maya confesses, turning to look at the boys standing behind her. “I try and try, but … I just can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” Kurt says, reassuring her with a smile. “I’ve seen you do that jump, and it’s amazing.”

“B—but … I can’t do it in front of _her_. I want my mom to be proud of me, but … I don’t think she ever is anymore.”

“Yes, she is.” Kurt’s confidence surprises Sebastian. It doesn’t sound like Kurt’s telling her what she wants to hear, but after that display, how can he be so sure? Of course, Kurt spends more time with the figure skaters and their parents than Sebastian does now. He has to trust his boyfriend’s judgment. “But you know parents. They expect so much from their kids sometimes that they forget how hard it is. Roadblocks come up. That’s not your fault.”

“I---I don’t know how to fix it.” Maya looks sadly at her skates. “I’ve tried everything, I … I just don’t know what to do.”

“I do.” Kurt remembers when Sebastian helped him iron out one of his triple combinations during a difficult time in his life. Kurt never thought he’d ever land that jump. He thought he’d plateaued, saw no way to get over the bump. But Sebastian proved him wrong. Kurt is certain he can prove Maya wrong, too. “We’re going to practice that jump until you can do it in your sleep. Until it’s not even a thing. And then you won’t have to worry about being nervous, because it’ll be like second nature to you.”

“D-do you think that will work?”

“I’m more than sure it will. Here …” Kurt reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a thin packet of tissues and hands them over so the poor girl can stop rubbing her eyes raw.

Maya pulls a tissue from the pack and dabs her eyes. Her racing heart slows and the rest of her body, numb from cold water soaking through her pants after numerous falls on the ice, begins to warm up again. Her smile starts small, not allowing itself to become too hopeful, especially when she looks the boys up and down and sees how nicely they’re both dressed.

“B---but I thought you guys were going on a date or something. I don’t want you to change your plans because of me.”

“It can wait,” Sebastian says. “Right now, this is more important.”


End file.
